my gold sex link gal is still not laying at 7 months?

[daisychain]

Is this normal? I thought she would be laying by now? The weather is great and plenty of light.

Also, my plymouth- same age- started laying about a month ago, an egg a day- then last week- bam- no more? She sits in her box most of the time. I guess she is broody? already??

Thanks for any insight- we are new to backyard chickens- have had our 2 girls since October.
G.

 

[Sassafras]

Is there any outside disturbances that could be bothering her? As for the other hen you might want to look up how to break them of being broody. She could be depriving herself of food and water.

 

[daisychain]

The gold sex link girl (Stevie Chicks) is living a pretty ideal life! No disturbances that I can see.... as for the broody one, I did look up a bunch of things I can try...I guess I just didn't realize "broodiness" would start so soon...she (Chick Jagger) just started laying maybe a month ago.I put a ziplock bag of ice cubes in her nest this afternoon....and viola! She is up on the roost again! Could it be this easy? We shall see tomorrow.

 

[Shanda]

Could your gold sex link gal be a he? Any strange noises attempting to come out?

 

[daisychain]

No strange noises...wouldn't I know by now if she was a he??
As for my other broody girl....I did what someone suggested and put a zip lock bag of ice cubes in her nest- worked for one night, but the next night, she just jumped in and slept right on the bag of ice!!

 

[ScotianChick]

I had a late bloomer. She didn't lay until she was 9 months old! I'm sure she'll lay eventually

Give her time and calcium

 

[daisychain]

Thanks! I will try to be patient... I figure she is 7 months today.

As for my broody gal. It has been 11 days, and she isn't snapping out of it.- she hasn't laid an egg in almost 2 weeks....she was laying every day before this happened. I tried removing the next box, but she just sits on the floor of the coop, and this makes it harder for me to try to get her up. Any more suggestions? How long do chickens ususally stay "broody"?

 

[daisychain]

So, my golden girl is now laying! she started about 10 days ago, and now is laying an egg a day! My Plymouth though, is still VERY BROODY. It is going on 2 months now. I make her get out of the box 2x a day, but as soon as I let her back in the coop, she's right back in the box. She has not laid an egg in over 6 weeks, and shows no sign of improvement. What should I do?? Is it bad to let her stay Broody? I figure she will eventually snap out of it? Any advice? I have tried ice bags in the nest, but she doesn't care at all, just sits on them til they melt.

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Yes it is bad she has been broody that long. Hens left broody can literally starve to death. She would naturally only brood eggs for 21 days and then leave the nest with her chicks and resume normal activities.

Obviously you don't want chicks so my suggestion is a wire cage. Walls, roof and floor all wire and suspended up in the air somewhere nice and bright. No bedding at all, just food and water. Given how long she's been broody and how persistent she is I'd leave her in there till she lays an egg, that's the sure sign she's no longer broody.

I've never broken a broody, I always let them raise chicks but this it the method I'd use if I wanted too. It's also the most humane method, I've read some pretty horrible suggestions of things to break broody hens.

Make sure to keep the cage handy, she may well go broody again shortly after being returned to her coop.

 

[rebel-rousing-at-night]

Quote:
X's 2

I broke a broody earlier this year in a wire cage with no bedding. Not long after she went broody again.
I never got to put the eggs under her that I wanted but to make the long story short I have 2 chicks from her and she is laying again.
I had checked with a moderator here ans she had told me they could starve to death so the above advice is good.